%0 Journal Article
%@ 2291-5222
%I JMIR Publications
%V 9
%N 11
%P e27896
%T Using Co-design in Mobile Health System Development: A Qualitative Study With Experts in Co-design and Mobile Health System Development
%A Noorbergen,Tyler J
%A Adam,Marc T P
%A Teubner,Timm
%A Collins,Clare E
%+ School of Information and Physical Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and Environment, University of Newcastle, ES214, Es Building, Callaghan, 2308, Australia, 61 249215197, marc.adam@newcastle.edu.au
%K co-design
%K mHealth
%K guidelines
%K qualitative study
%K mobile phone
%D 2021
%7 10.11.2021
%9 Original Paper
%J JMIR Mhealth Uhealth
%G English
%X Background: The proliferation of mobile devices has enabled new ways of delivering health services through mobile health systems. Researchers and practitioners emphasize that the design of such systems is a complex endeavor with various pitfalls, including limited stakeholder involvement in design processes and the lack of integration into existing system landscapes. Co-design is an approach used to address these pitfalls. By recognizing users as experts of their own experience, co-design directly involves users in the design process and provides them an active role in knowledge development, idea generation, and concept development. Objective: Despite the existence of a rich body of literature on co-design methodologies, limited research exists to guide the co-design of mobile health (mHealth) systems. This study aims to contextualize an existing co-design framework for mHealth applications and construct guidelines to address common challenges of co-designing mHealth systems. Methods: Tapping into the knowledge and experience of experts in co-design and mHealth systems development, we conducted an exploratory qualitative study consisting of 16 semistructured interviews. Thereby, a constructivist ontological position was adopted while acknowledging the socially constructed nature of reality in mHealth system development. Purposive sampling across web-based platforms (eg, Google Scholar and ResearchGate) and publications by authors with co-design experience in mHealth were used to recruit co-design method experts (n=8) and mHealth system developers (n=8). Data were analyzed using thematic analysis along with our objectives of contextualizing the co-design framework and constructing guidelines for applying co-design to mHealth systems development. Results: The contextualized framework captures important considerations of the mHealth context, including dedicated prototyping and implementation phases, and an emphasis on immersion in real-world contexts. In addition, 7 guidelines were constructed that directly pertain to mHealth: understanding stakeholder vulnerabilities and diversity, health behavior change, co-design facilitators, immersion in the mHealth ecosystem, postdesign advocates, health-specific evaluation criteria, and usage data and contextual research to understand impact. Conclusions: System designers encounter unique challenges when engaging in mHealth systems development. The contextualized co-design framework and constructed guidelines have the potential to serve as a shared frame of reference to guide the co-design of mHealth systems and facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration at the nexus of information technology and health research. 
%M 34757323
%R 10.2196/27896
%U https://mhealth.jmir.org/2021/11/e27896
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/27896
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34757323